Morris Levy--longtime president of New York-based Roulette Records and one of the most colorful and influential figures in the U.S. record industry--was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday and fined $200,000 for conspiring to extort a customer in the 1984 purchase of more than 4 million so-called cutouts, or discontinued recordings, from MCA Records. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Stanley S. Brotman in Camden, N.J.

It's a safe bet that most radio listeners have never heard of rock singer Matthew Harrison. The owner of tiny Third Monk Records, which released Harrison's album, says there's a simple reason: The company can't afford the hidden costs of obtaining radio airplay. Jeff Robinson, the label's sole proprietor, said he doesn't have the money to hire independent promoters who heavily influence station playlists.

Berry Gordy Jr., the former Detroit auto worker who built Motown Records into what was once the nation's largest black-owned business, has sold the company for $61 million to MCA Inc. and Boston Ventures Limited Partnership, the companies announced Tuesday. The sale of the company, which Gordy built in the 1960s and 1970s with such stars as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Jackson 5 and Diana Ross, was concluded late Monday, although it had been expected for weeks.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday delivered the most devastating blow yet to Napster Inc., directing a lower court to stop the wildly popular online song-swapping service from helping consumers violate copyrights. The ruling, eagerly anticipated throughout the entertainment industry, solidifies the control that record companies, music publishers and artists exert over the businesses built around their songs.

Rap music is not polite. It's a noisy 'n' crude attack on mainstream sensibilities that has even liberal-minded adults who were raised on the rebellious, outlaw beat of Little Richard and the Rolling Stones asking themselves, "What happened to real music?"

Sony Music is rolling the dice again. Just months after the record industry conglomerate signed Michael Jackson to a landmark $65 million-plus contract, Sony is concluding negotiations on a four-album deal with Aerosmith that could make the veteran band the industry's most highly paid rock group.

Benny Medina has seen the record business from virtually every angle. He's been a singer and a writer-producer at Motown Records as well as a senior vice president at Warner Bros. Records, where he worked with such major figures as Prince, Ray Charles and Paul Simon. After coming up with the idea for the hit TV sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" in the '80s, Medina left Warner Bros.

An often-bitter, 16-month legal battle between MCA Records and a distributor of budget records ended Tuesday, when a U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles ruled that MCA was not responsible for losses suffered by Scorpio Music as a result of a 1984 purchase of so-called cutout recordings from MCA. "We feel it was a just verdict, well supported by the facts," said Dennis Kinnaird, a lawyer with the firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, which represented MCA.

In yet another trade dispute with Japan--this time over music by recording stars ranging from the Four Tops to the Doors--the United States formally complained to the World Trade Organization on Friday about Tokyo's failure to observe foreign music copyrights prior to 1971. The period from 1946 to 1971, said U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, touting his Nashville heritage, was "one of the most vibrant and popular periods in the history of American music."

It's a safe bet that most radio listeners have never heard of rock singer Matthew Harrison. The owner of tiny Third Monk Records, which released Harrison's album, says there's a simple reason: The company can't afford the hidden costs of obtaining radio airplay. Jeff Robinson, the label's sole proprietor, said he doesn't have the money to hire independent promoters who heavily influence station playlists.

When the debate over controversial music content hits Capitol Hill, Hilary Rosen is often a central figure as the president of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the music industry's powerful trade group. But on a recent afternoon of holiday gift-buying, Rosen was just a curious bystander when the issue popped up at a department store cash register. Rosen was in line behind a woman buying "Country Grammar," the hit album by rapper Nelly, as a gift for her young son.

When 'N Sync released its "No Strings Attached" album in March, retailers began blowing the CD out the door for about $13. Then, with great fanfare, came the announcement from the Federal Trade Commission that the agency had put a stop to anti-competitive practices in the record industry, a move that it claimed would drive CD prices down as much as $5 a disc. So, how far have CD retail prices fallen since? Not a penny.

The music industry equivalent of the gold prospector has long been the A&R executive (it stands for artist and repertoire) who has sought out the next big thing in dingy clubs, backwater music halls and tall stacks of demo tapes. More than talent scouts, A&R executives have also prided themselves on fighting for their young artists and fostering their careers.

U.S. music sales grew about 6% to a new high of 755 million units in 1999, fueled by teen pop stars such as the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday. Of the industry's five top major music labels, Seagram Co.'s Universal Music led the market with 26.39% of total album sales, based on new product and older catalog items. Sony Corp.'s Sony Music ranked second with 16.27%, followed by Bertelsmann's BMG with 16.07%. Time Warner Inc.'

First, the well-known facts: Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin is enjoying phenomenal success with his first English-language album, and more Latino pop artists, such as Enrique Iglesias, are vying to do the same. This has led the U.S. media--including a Time magazine cover story--to trumpet a new "Latin crossover phenomenon." Now, the lesser-known facts. One: Many of the so-called crossover artists are Americans by birth, including Martin.

Look out below! That's the anxious cry in the record industry these days as one album after another by star acts enters the Top 10 impressively, then descends rapidly. In fact, no established pop, rock or R&B act this year has been able to maintain its position in the Top 10 for long. Not R&B divas En Vogue, whose "EV3" debuted last month at No. 8 and was already down to No. 27 after only four weeks. Not English electronics pioneer Depeche Mode, whose "Ultra" went from a first-week No.

The nation's six largest makers of compact discs have been accused of scheming to keep CD prices artificially high, in a lawsuit that could result in payments to millions of buyers. A law firm representing two CD buyers filed the lawsuit Monday and won immediate class-action status, which means other aggrieved CD consumers can join. The suit does not specify how much it is seeking but limits each individual claim to $5,000.

This list of pop music's Top 40--the people who will shape the $25-billion recording industry in the '90s and beyond--was compiled after scores of interviews with industry insiders. The alphabetical listing begins with the men, dubbed by one industry wag "the Six Suits," who head the record divisions of the multinational corporate giants that dominate the business. The list continues over the next two pages. MICHAEL DORNEMANN,chairman and CEO, Bertelsmann Music Group.

Don't talk to Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott about how bad things are supposed to be in the music business. The Portsmouth, Va., native's debut album, "Supa Dupa Fly," burst onto the nation's pop chart at No. 3 during its first week in the stores, selling an estimated 130,000 units. That's more albums sold in the last seven days than U2, Paul McCartney, Aerosmith and Jon Bon Jovi combined.

The bait was a day at Disney World and the opportunity to collect some old debts. Lured by the chance to mix business with some time in the Florida sun, 11 European and American record distributors traveled to Orlando in March. They were invited by a local distributor, who told them he was prepared to pay back some IOUs during their stay. What the visitors didn't know was who really was behind the invitation: the U.S. Customs Service, acting at the urging of U.S. recording companies.